Carole Evenson started her business, Classy Glasses by Carole, after she started decorating the frames of her own reading glasses.
Photos by Tammy Swift / The Forum

When Carole Evenson noticed she needed reading glasses, she decided to make the most of it.

Underwhelmed by the drab options in the drugstore, Evenson sat down with glue and Swarovski crystals and bedazzled a pair of ordinary frames.

“I’m a girly girl,” Evenson says. “I like things that sparkle.”

Whenever she wore the fetching frames, people would ask where she got them. Especially at John Alexander’s Restaurant and Martini Bar in Moorhead, where Evenson is a server.

Evenson responded to the demand with a side business called Classy Glasses by Carole. She sells her faux-gem designs in a variety of colors. And, because people may have a favorite color combo or require a particular strength of correction, she also will fill custom orders.

“It keeps evolving,” she says. “I’ve never seen any other reading glasses like these.”

Evenson wants to keep the sparkly specs affordable, so she charges about $20 per pair. So far her sales have come mostly from word-of-mouth – and sight-of-frame – although she’d like to sell at art fairs or craft shows, too.

The side business is a natural evolution for Evenson, an artistic type who worked as a sign painter for 15 years. That is, until computers took over. “My brain just doesn’t think that way,” she says. “I like to do the hands-on stuff.”

Now Evenson channels her artistic side into her environment. Her home along Fargo’s Ninth Avenue South is meticulously decorated with antique furnishings and a 60-man-strong garden gnome collection. And her backyard is artfully landscaped with roses, perennials, grasses and vegetables.

The Classy Glasses venture is another way to feed her inner artist. Evenson spends at least an hour on one set of frames, using a toothpick to carefully align each individual gem.

It’s a job that takes a steady hand – and a good eye.

“I need to wear my beaded glasses to make my beaded glasses,” she says with a laugh.

To place an order, contact Evenson at classyglassesbycarole@gmail.com.